As anti-war
protester Cindy Sheehan says: "All our president has been talking about
has been protecting this country since 9/11. That's why people voted for
him in the last election. Katrina shows it's all a sham, a fraud, a disaster
as large as Katrina itself. " Like every mother in America who has lost
a child to the War on Iraq, Sheehan wants the peace to start right now.

"So
we have come to cash this check - a check that will give us upon
demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have
also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce
urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling
off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism."
-
Martin Luther King Jr., August 28, 1963, "I Have a Dream" speech

What Bush's
Katrina shows once again is that my son died for nothing. If you
listen to Bush - and fewer and fewer are, thank goodness - we
are in Iraq in part due to 9/11. All our president has been talking
about has been protecting this country since 9/11. That's why
people voted for him in the last election. Katrina shows its
all a sham, a fraud, a disaster as large as Katrina itself.

Enough,
George! What is disgusting
is not, as the first lady says,
criticism of you, but rather
the crimes you've committed against
this country and our sons and
daughters. Stop hiding behind
your twisted idea of God and
stop destroying this country.

Hundreds
of billions and tens of thousands of innocent lives wasted later,
what have we achieved? Nothing. Casey died for nothing and Bush
says others have to die for those that have died already.

Enough,
George! What is disgusting is not, as the first lady says, criticism
of you, but rather the crimes you've committed against this country
and our sons and daughters. Stop hiding behind your twisted idea
of God and stop destroying this country.

This
week I arrive in Washington DC to begin my Vigil at the White
House just like I did in Texas. But this time I'll be joined by
Katrina victims as well. In your America we are all victims. The
failed bookends of your Presidency are Iraq and Katrina.

We,
as the 62% of Americans
who want our troops to begin
coming home, will follow such
a leader down the difficult but
oh-so-rewarding path of
peace with justice.

It is time
for all of us to stand up and be counted: to show the media, Congress,
and this inept, corrupt, and criminal administration that we mean
business. It is time to get off of our collective behinds to show
the people who are running our country into oblivion that we will
stand for it no longer. That we want our country back and we want
our nation's young people back home, safe and sound, on our shores
to help protect America. That it is time for a change in our country's
"leadership." That we will never go away until our dreams are
reality.

We have so-called
leaders in our country who are waiting for the correct "politically
expedient" time to speak up and out against the occupation of
Iraq. It is no sweat for our politicos to wait for the right time,
because not one of them has a child in harm's way. I don't care
if the politician is a Democrat or a Republican, this is not about
politics. Being a strong leader to guide our country out of
the quagmire and mistake of Iraq will require people of courage
and determination to stand up and say: "I don't care if I win
the next election, people are dying in Iraq every day and families
are being decimated." We,
as the 62% of Americans who want our troops to begin coming home,
will follow such a leader down the difficult but oh-so-rewarding
path of peace with justice.

Have
you ever heard the sound
of a Nation Being Rocked to Sleep?
Our leaders want to keep us numb
so the pain won't be too deep.
But if we the people allow them to
continue, another mother will weep,
Have you heard the sound of a Nation
Being Rocked to Sleep? Wake up.

It
is no longer time for the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. It
never has been the time for that. Our "now" is so fiercely urgent.
Like my daughter, Carly, wrote in the last verse of her "A Nation
Rocked to Sleep" poem:

Have
you ever heard the sound of a Nation Being Rocked to Sleep? Our
leaders want to keep us numb so the pain won't be too deep. But
if we the people allow them to continue, another mother will weep,
Have you heard the sound of a Nation Being Rocked to Sleep? Wake
up: See you in DC on the 24th.